


spooky scary skeletons (send shivers down your spine)

by dontrollthedice



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Fluff, Haunted Houses, M/M, Pre-Slash, Spooky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27088450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontrollthedice/pseuds/dontrollthedice
Summary: The only part of Halloween Bad liked was the free candy and childhood memories. He could do without the horror aspect of it.But of course, Skeppy found a way to wrangle him into his haunted house hangout plans, and Bad maybe doesn't end up regretting going.Maybe.
Relationships: Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 38
Kudos: 454





	spooky scary skeletons (send shivers down your spine)

**Author's Note:**

> hi! happy spooky season and friendversary <3 im tired of looking at this so bah here u go. clearly not my best work but i hope u enjoy anyway

Halloween as a holiday wasn't the issue for Bad; it served as a great excuse to both cave into his sugar tooth's demands and relive his childhood for just a day. The issue was his friend group's insistence on venturing through a haunted house, completely aware of the fact he didn't handle horror well.

Well, more like one friend (who wasn't really just a friend, but Bad boxed those thoughts and threw it as far as he could).

_ "Bad," _ Skeppy whined, tugging on the sleeve of Bad's jacket. "Come on, it's tradition. You, me, A6d, the Idots, my roommate… probably Mega. Depends on if I can force him to come with us."

Bad tugged his sleeve away with a frown. "Then why don't you expend some of your energy on convincing him?"

"Because I want  _ you _ there."

"That's kind of rude to Mega."

"Well, Mega's kind of rude to me."

This was supposed to be a normal hangout after their classes ended for the day. Granted, normal with Skeppy edged closer to the weird side of things, but him cajoling Bad into doing something he didn't want to do for this long was unusual, even by Skeppy standards.

"Why do you want me to go so badly anyway?" Bad asked. "I didn't go with you guys last year or the year before that."

Skeppy scoffed. "What, I need a reason to spend time with my best friend?"

"Well, usually when you do stuff like this, it's a troll—"

"It's not a troll!" 

"Okay, I'm just saying it usually is! You know I don't like horror, and you're taking me to a haunted house."

Skeppy sighed, then leaned forward, tugging on both Bad's sleeve and heart again. "Listen. I'm not very big, but I'll protect you, okay? I'm not very big, but I'll protect you. We'll be okay in there."

Skeppy's eyes softened, took on a new glimmer. His smile was so warm, so earnest—

* * *

"You agreed to go to a haunted house with us because he  _ smiled _ at you?"

"Well, when you say it like  _ that… _ "

A6d raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair, something he only did when he was about to chew Bad out. How many times has this happened for Bad to recognize that?

A6d shook his head. "Bad, I don't know how to tell you that you're just an idiot."

"You just told me…"

Accompanying a friend to the grocery store was a good way to hang out with the limited time they had during midterms season, at least in Bad's eyes. He couldn't speak for his other friends, but A6d seemed content to walk alongside him in the aisles while Bad quizzed him with notes from A6d's phone. Then this conversation topic had been brought up, and now they were squabbling in the middle of the snack aisle.

"How long have you had this crush on him, a year?" A6d asked. "If you're so in love with him that you agreed to go to a haunted house just because he smiled, you should probably say something."

A6d had a point. Bad decided to toss that point out the window.

"Bad."

Bad shook his head and grabbed a bag of pickle chips off the rack, then hesitantly grabbed another bag for his roommate. Did George even like pickle chips? He couldn't recall him ever saying he liked them, but he also couldn't remember an instance he said he  _ didn't _ like them…

"Bad!"

Bad snapped out of his thoughts, only to be met with A6d's concerned glare and an older person down the aisle doing a poor job of pretending they weren't listening. "Oh my goodness, you don't have to scream, A6d. I heard you the first time."

"Why didn't you respond then?"

"Well. That's just how the muffin crumbles sometimes."

A6d shook his head but laughed. "I hate you. Give me another question."

Bad smiled and scrolled down the list of pre-written questions, settling into their routine of question-answer.

But even as smart as A6d was, even as good of a point he made, there was no way Bad was touching a confession with a ten foot pole. He liked his friendship with Skeppy as it was.

Yeah.

Definitely.

* * *

No. No, no, no, no, no. No! No!

Skeppy gripped Bad's wrist before he could walk away and pulled him back with a grin. "Hey, you promised you'd at least try this out with us."

Bad yanked his wrist out of Skeppy's grip, ignoring the less rational side of him that screamed to have that contact again. "And you promised it wouldn't be too scary."

"Yeah, it isn't."

"Skeppy, this is the scariest haunted house in our area."

"... Okay, maybe it's a  _ little _ scary. Not too much though. You're with me, remember?"

Zelk scoffed. "Skeppy, you can't handle scary things either. Remember in middle school when—"

"It literally costs you zero dollars to be quiet."

"No, go on," Tapl said with a grin.

Skeppy only flicked Tapl’s forehead before turning to the rest of the group. Bad turned with him.

True to his word, most of the people he had mentioned a couple days ago were present. Mega and Finn were the only person absent from the original list, but Bad had suspected that might've been the result anyway. Mega wasn't known for giving into Skeppy's whines like Bad did. But Finn had been present with them since they arrived. Where did he—

"Okay, just got back," Finn said, worming his way into the group between Vurb and Tapl. "The haunted house only lets us go in pairs. Who's pairing up?"

Skeppy huffed at that. "Well, that's easy." Then he—

Oh, goodness, he was holding Bad's hand now. This wasn't good for his heart. Not at all.

"Bad and I are pairing," Skeppy announced. He looked around the ring as if challenging anyone to oppose him, but no opposition came.

Zelk and A6d locked eyes before moving to stand next to each other. Of course the two stoic people of the group would choose to go together and forsake the rest of them.

"I guess I'll team with Tap," Finn said.

Tapl quirked an eyebrow. "Did you just call me Tap?"

"Tappy Lappy."

Tapl opened his mouth to respond, but Spifey's sudden cry of realization and Vurb's snickering interrupted him.

"You're stuck with me, George!" Vurb laughed as Spifey buried his face in his palms. "Toe buddies forever!"

"Well, that's everyone," Skeppy said, pointedly ignoring Spifey's despair. "Let's go, idiots."

With that, the group walked into the haunted house, and Bad regretted many,  _ many _ decisions he had made in his life.

* * *

"Skeppy, I don't like this."

"I know, Bad."

"I really, really don't like this."

"Bad,  _ I know. _ "

The two yelped when the floorboards creaked under their weight, sighing after realizing they jumped at nothing.

Haunted houses were nothing more than cheap jumpscares. All of their tricks were easy to see through: the long and winding hallways, the lack of lighting, the phantom touches to their limbs. It was all a way to build tension before the final scare of the sequence could jump out at them. Yet rationalizing it all didn’t make it any less scary.

Bad knew he was a disaster when it came to scary things; that was just indisputable. But Skeppy was just a bit better at maintaining his composure. Even if it was obvious he was falling for the same cheap jumpscares Bad was, he was willing to lead the way, to keep an arm out in front of Bad. All because of that one promise…

Okay, maybe sometimes he threw Bad under the bus just to tease him a little. To be fair, Bad would probably do the same thing in his position.

“How much longer do we have to go of this?” Bad asked.

Skeppy rolled his eyes as he continued walking forward. “How am I supposed to know? It’s not like I’ve ever been here before—”

Something clanked against the floorboards. Holy muffins, something clanked against the floorboards!

They froze in place.

Then giggles bubbled out of Skeppy’s mouth, those giggles he laughed when he knew he wasn’t supposed to be laughing but couldn’t help himself.

“Skeppy,” Bad whispered, a grin rising to his lips. Skeppy’s laughter was contagious at the worst of moments. “Be quiet.”

More giggles arose before Skeppy whispered back, “This ghost is a fucking whore.”

Bad couldn’t stop the laughter rising from his own throat. “Language!”

“I’m sorry!”

They spent the next ten minutes arguing amongst themselves in the same spot, trying to keep their voices low as they laughed and talked.

* * *

“You been scared yet?” Zelk asked, crossing his arms as they walked down a dark hallway. He only blinked when a hand sprouted from the smoke in front of them. Ah, smoke machine overuse. It was like high school theater all over again.

A6d flicked a dust ball out from his face. “Nah.”

“You think the others have been scared yet?”

“Oh, definitely.”

* * *

"Hey," Bad called, "what do you think those red flashing lights mean?"

"Uh, probably not anything good."

"Probably not."

“The smoke in that hall probably isn’t a good sign either then, right?”

A hand sprouted out from the smoke and brushed the tips of its fingers against Skeppy’s skin.

Skeppy screamed and stumbled backwards, only to be met with another pair of hands extending from the walls. Bad yelped and ran forward into the smoke with Skeppy right on his trail, his heart pounding so loudly he could hear it beating.

He hated this. He hated this entire experience.

* * *

“Harvey?”

“Yeah?”

“Those aren’t your footsteps, right?”

“I’m literally right next to you, dumbass. You can see me not moving.”

“Then… what are those footsteps?”

Tapl froze with Finn, then they slowly craned their heads backwards into the darkness.

A pair of eyes stared back at them, and that was when their souls collectively died.

* * *

“Do you hear that?” Skeppy whispered.

Bad furrowed his eyebrows and stopped to listen.

They had just reached a short, wet tunnel after a hall filled with smoke and grabby hands. Water (or what Bad hoped was water) dripped from the ceiling, hitting the pavement with a tiny thud. Nothing beyond a foot ahead of them was visible.

Then he heard… distant screaming?

Skeppy grinned. “That’s Finn and Harvey.”

“How can you tell?”

“You listen to somebody scream too many times, and you start being able to recognize it.”

Well. That was concerning.

“... Skeppy?” Bad called after a pause. “What happens in your dorm building? Are you okay? Do you need a place to stay?”

“No. Can I move in?”

Bad hummed, thinking back to his own room. There were only two bedrooms. But if Skeppy moved in, it wasn’t like George couldn’t find another place to live; he was sneaky enough for Dream and Sapnap to hide in their dorm room like a banned cat. Or they would have to share a—

No. He would not think about sharing a bed with Skeppy. That was the opposite of what he would think about. Why was he even entertaining throwing George out? Gosh, he wasn’t the best friend to him, was he?

But they did have an empty closet that could probably be used as a spare room provided the person was small enough. And given how short Skeppy was (no, they weren’t the same height. Definitely. Totally), he could probably fit.

“Sure,” Bad said. “I have a spare room.”

“... Are you flirting with—”

“No! Ugh, I—Skeppy, stop.” Bad huffed, but he couldn’t help but smile as Skeppy laughed. He needed to seem angry, gosh darn it! Something about Skeppy just didn’t let him be angry for more than a couple seconds. “How many times have you done this?”

Skeppy only giggled as he took the first steps down the tunnel.

Bad rolled his eyes but followed, some of the tension from the horror relieved from his shoulders.

* * *

“George, if you push me down the stairs, I’m gonna come back from the dead and steal your toes in your sleep.”

Spifey blinked, then slowly lowered his arms to his side.

* * *

“No. I’m not going down there.”

“Bad, we have to.”

“No! You can go by yourself. I’m gonna stay up here, where it’s safe.”

They had come across a spiral staircase leading down. While there were lights to ensure they wouldn’t miss a step, there were also  _ holes in the wall. _ This was a haunted house; any haunted house worth their salt would have something awful staring back at them, and Bad would not be dealing with that today.

… Ugh. Thinking about what was in those walls gave him the creeps.

Skeppy pouted. “Baaad. Come on. We only have a little bit left to go.”

“No. You’re just gonna have to leave me here. Goodbye, Skeppy, it was nice knowing you.”

“You’re so dramatic, oh my god.”

“ _ I’m _ the dramatic one?”

“Yeah, you are!”

Bad huffed. He didn’t want to go down a scary staircase with a jumpscare almost certainly waiting for him at the end like a sensible person, yet  _ he  _ was the dramatic one? “Oh my goodness. I can’t believe you.”

“Fine,” Skeppy said with his arms crossed. “If you’re not the dramatic one, then go down those stairs right now.”

“Fine!”

It was only halfway down the staircase Bad realized he had played right into Skeppy’s hands.

… Maybe all those people saying he openly favored Skeppy above everyone else were right.

* * *

Oh no. That was an unstable bridge. And while Bad could see the floor wasn’t too far below it, there were  _ moving things _ on that floor.

Judging by the desperate glance Skeppy sent him, he had noticed the same thing.

“Okay, Bad,” Skeppy said, his voice low. “We’re gonna need to rely on each other for this one. If we fall, we’re dead.”

This was just a haunted house. Everything was fake, but why did the threat feel so real?

Skeppy held his hand out. “Grab my hand. If we fall, then at least we have each other.”

Right. They would have each other, always.

“Okay,” Bad said quietly before taking Skeppy’s hand.

They were holding hands. What the muffin? What was happening? Had his heartbeat been this fast since the first step he took into the haunted house or was his crush rearing its head at the worst time?

Even as they made their way across the creaky, flimsy bridge, Bad couldn’t help but note that Skeppy’s hand was warm, secure,  _ safe. _ His touch was gentle but firm enough for Bad to be sure if they fell, they would fall together. Their fingers laced perfectly together.

Or maybe Bad was reading too far into this. That was possible, too.

“Hey, Bad,” Skeppy called in that voice Bad didn’t trust one bit.

Bad raised an eyebrow but gave him the benefit of the doubt. “Hi.”

Then Skeppy tilted the bridge the slightest bit to one side, and Bad decided he would never trust Skeppy again.

“Ah! Geppy!” Bad yelped. He ripped his hand away from the grip to throw his arms around Skeppy, burying his face into Skeppy’s shoulder. It was the only secure thing he could reach for. “Stop it!”

Gosh darn it. Skeppy smelled nice.

Skeppy howled with laughter as he threw an arm around Bad’s shoulders and resteadied the bridge. “Oh my god, you should’ve seen your face! I can’t—” He burst into another round of laughter.

Bad’s face heated at that. “Oh, be quiet. Let’s just get this over with.”

“Odds on one to ten for who has to go off the bridge?”

“Skeppy, that’s a terrible idea.”

“It would be fun, wouldn’t it?”

Bad sighed at that. It would be fun, to be honest. “Fine. I’ll go first. Three, two, one, Five.”

“Three. You got lucky this time,” Skeppy said. “My turn now, I guess. Three, two, one, seven.”

“Eight. You didn’t really think this idea through, did you?”

Skeppy made a face at that. “What do you mean?”

Oh. This could be fun. This could be lots of fun.

“You don’t really think a lot of things through, Skeppy,” Bad sighed, suppressing a snicker at the deadpan expression on Skeppy’s face. “I wouldn’t say it’s one of your strong points.”

“Bad.”

“You have plenty of strong points to make up for it, though! Don’t you worry your head about it, Skeppy.”

Skeppy gave him one last look before tipping the bridge over.

Traitor.

But there was no time to think about that nor chide Skeppy for being reckless. They had landed straight onto the plush landing area beneath the bridge, and Bad was only slightly dazed before he lifted his head.

All movement had stopped. Until it suddenly resumed in a rush towards them.

Bad wouldn’t be afraid to admit he screamed if Skeppy admitted he screamed first.

* * *

“Oh my goodness, there’s the exit,” Bad breathed. He turned to Skeppy, bouncing on his feet and clapping his hands. “We can leave now, Skeppy!”

Skeppy’s face brightened upon seeing the door labeled as the exit at the very end of a long, empty room. “Bro, let’s go!”

Just as they took a step forward, a chainsaw revved in the background.

That… That was growing closer.

Bad turned, then gasped upon seeing a man running at them with a whirring chainsaw in hand. “Oh my goodness—Skeppy! Run!”

Skeppy took Bad’s wrist and ran ahead, and the two screamed as the exit grew closer and closer.

* * *

The brightness of the moon outside was a warm welcome to the perpetual darkness they had been under for the past hour. Their friends were gathered a tad bit away from the exit, quietly talking amongst themselves before they realized Bad and Skeppy were approaching.

"Finally,” Zelk groaned. “What took you guys so long?"

Skeppy narrowed his eyes. "Well, I'm sorry some of us have a sense of fear, Zelk."

"I mean, so do Harvey and Finn, but they still came out way earlier."

Bad's gaze moved to Tapl and Finn, who were both sitting on the ground panting. Finn seemed to be dying just a bit more than Tapl, though. But Zelk said they emerged from the haunted house much earlier than Bad and Skeppy had. Something didn’t add up.

He was afraid to ask what happened. He decided he wouldn’t ask what happened.

“So,” Vurb said with a grin that Bad absolutely didn’t trust. “Did you two have fun together?”

Bad smiled back. “It was a lot of fun, yeah. I’m never coming back here again, but it was fun.”

“Did you guys do the WAP dance together?” Spifey asked with another grin Bad absolutely didn’t trust. Bad didn’t trust the smiles of a lot of people here, actually.

“Geo,” Skeppy called, his voice betraying nothing.

“What?”

“Do you ever shut the fuck up?”

“Language,” Bad murmured as everyone else in the group laughed, biting back his own laughter.

Skeppy stretched his arms out with a yawn. “If you’re all done being idiots, I’m hungry. Let’s go get dinner. You guys can come to me and Harvey’s dorm.”

Tapl raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t agree to this.”

“You will.”

“I will agree to this, yes.”

With that, the group began to move back towards the parking lot, their usual chaos springing back into action.

Bad stayed silent, his gaze fixed on Skeppy’s hand.

Skeppy was somebody who wore his heart on his sleeve, never hesitated to show his emotions as strongly as he felt them. And throughout that entire journey through the haunted house, he had teased and argued with Bad, yes, but he also comforted him, shared in his fears, willed him forward when he froze. Skeppy loved, and Skeppy loved loudly.

And… And maybe he had enough room in his heart to love Bad like Bad loved him.

Bad’s gaze drifted to A6d, who walked alongside Tapl and listened to the current discussion on nail polish between him and Finn.

A6d looked back towards him, glanced at Bad’s hand inching closer to Skeppy’s hand, then glanced back at Bad with a smile before turning away.

Yeah. He could do this.

Bad steeled his trembling heart before he took Skeppy’s hand.

Skeppy paused, then laced their fingers together.

Maybe this whole haunted house thing had been worth it after all.


End file.
